Jackson Township, Vinton County

How Jackson Township, Vinton County began

Jackson Township was organized from Eagle Township on December 6, 1831, and its earliest settlers, including John Tilton, Eli Hill and the Ankram, Colwell and Drake families, built the township's only store and only mill on the Middle Fork of Salt Creek. It also holds one of Vinton County's National Register sites, the Mt. Olive Road Covered Bridge, built in 1875 by local engineer George Washington Pilcher a mile northeast of Allensville, on a road that had been a heavily used route between Marietta and Chillicothe until about 1825. Two of its 1880s post offices, Stella and Ural, sat along the mail route between New Plymouth and Vigo, Ross County.

Incorporated 1831-12-06, by organized from Eagle Township.

Where the name comes from

Not verified in sources checked; likely named, as is common for Ohio townships of this era, for President Andrew Jackson, but no source confirming this specific namesake was found.

Before the town

No Native American site or village specific to Jackson Township was found in the sources checked.

Timeline

1. to c. 1825 — Mt. Olive Road, later the site of the covered bridge, serves as a heavily used travel corridor between Marietta and Chillicothe.
2. 1831-12-06 — Jackson Township is organized, split off from Eagle Township.
3. early settlement — Among the first settlers are John Tilton, Eli Hill, Isaac Hawks, Enoch Dixon, William Burns, Thomas Colwell, Archibald Drake, Peter Milton, Jacob and William Ankram (also recorded as Arkson), Frederick Garrick, Joseph Wyatt and Samuel Darby; James Ankram opens the township's only store, on the Middle Fork of Salt Creek, and Jacob Ankram builds its first grist-and-saw mill nearby.
4. unknown — The "Locust Grove" church, the township's first, is built of logs; the first sermon is preached by Rev. N. Redfern.
5. 1875 — George Washington Pilcher builds the Mt. Olive Road Covered Bridge one mile northeast of Allensville in Jackson Township, using a queen post truss on stone piers.
6. 1880-07 — Two post offices, Stella (near the Locust Grove church, with Mrs. Walker as postmistress) and Ural, both open on the mail route between New Plymouth in Brown Township and Vigo, Ross County.
7. 1881 — James Darby of Jackson Township is elected Vinton County Commissioner.
8. 1976-10-08 — The Mt. Olive Road Covered Bridge is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Stories

The bridge the Grandstaffs' name stuck to

A mile northeast of Allensville, George Washington Pilcher built a covered bridge over the local creek in 1875 on a queen post truss set on stone piers, roofing it in metal in the style common to Ohio's 19th-century covered bridges. The road it carried, Mt. Olive Road, had already been a heavily traveled corridor between Marietta and Chillicothe for decades before Pilcher's bridge went up, though that traffic had faded by about 1825. Locally the bridge came to be called the "Grandstaff Bridge," after the family that owned the land around it, even after the structure earned its official listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 under its road name.

One store, one mill, one township

Jackson Township's commercial life for decades came down to a single crossroads on the Middle Fork of Salt Creek. There James Ankram opened the only store the township would ever have, and nearby Jacob Ankram, presumably a relative, built the combined saw-and-grist mill that ground the township's flour and cut its lumber. The township's first church, Locust Grove, started life the same way most rural Ohio congregations did: built of logs, with the first sermon preached by a circuit-riding minister, Rev. N. Redfern, before a later frame building replaced it on the same foundation.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Mcarthur, Village Of98% of residentsGroundwater wells (7 wells)
• Ross County Water Co. Inc2% of residentsTeays Valley Aquifer (buried valley groundwater)

Bridges rated poor (6)

Money issues on the ballot since 2023: 2 of 2 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-31

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